Chapter 24.2

“Tell me,” Huang Guifen looked up at her. “Tell me, what did I do wrong?”

Ye Sibei remained silent, sitting there while the sounds of Ye Nianwen’s shouting echoed in her ears: “Then sell the house! I don’t need a house, I don’t need to get married. I’ll stand by my sister and fight this case to the end!”

“That’s my money!” Ye Ling shouted back, hysterical. “It’s not up to you whether we sell it or not!”

Listening to them for a moment, Ye Sibei saw that Huang Guifen was still staring intently at her. After thinking for a while, she let out a faint laugh.

“I don’t understand either,” Ye Sibei looked up, forcing a smile. “How can you think there’s nothing wrong with such blatant unfairness?”

“You didn’t go to school to support your uncle; you took care of your grandmother, but all the property went to your uncle,” Ye Sibei shrugged. “Don’t you feel even a little bit resentful?”

“I don’t—”

“You do.” Ye Sibei interrupted her, looking seriously at Huang Guifen. “But everyone told you that feeling that way was selfish, that it wasn’t generous. You were forced to live that way your whole life, so you think I should live that way too.”

“You love me,” Ye Sibei unconsciously rubbed her thumb, nodding. “I know. But your love for Nianwen is different from your love for me. Your love for me isn’t just love—there’s also jealousy.”

Huang Guifen gently shook her head. “I’m not jealous of you…”

“You can’t accept that I don’t live the way you did,” Ye Sibei said with a bitter smile. “Because that would mean denying your own life. You always say it’s for my own good, but sometimes, you don’t really know what’s good and what’s bad.”

“You don’t understand. You’re still young.”

“But you’re old now.”

Ye Sibei lowered her head. “Mom, times are changing. I know why you didn’t want me to go to the police. But look, Chu Chu supports me, Nianwen supports me, Qin Nan supports me. The world has changed—you’re the one who doesn’t understand.”

“If things have really changed,” Huang Guifen’s eyes grew moist, “then why am I lying here, and why is our family still fighting like this?”

Ye Sibei couldn’t answer that question.

Because she didn’t know either.

She could passionately argue against Tao Jie and calmly reject Zhao Shuhui, but Huang Guifen’s question felt like it dragged her out of the beautiful dream she had woven.

It’s not as simple as making a decision and having the world conform to your wishes.

Huang Guifen looked at Ye Sibei as if she were a child. She reached out and gently placed her hand on Ye Sibei’s.

“Maybe you’re right; I can’t love you the way I love Nianwen.”

As Ye Sibei listened, tears started to fall.

Huang Guifen held her hand. “So I know you might be right, and I know this isn’t fair to you, but Sibei,” her voice paused for a long moment before she continued, “go to the Fan family, negotiate for some money, and let it go.”

Ye Sibei said nothing, tears streaming down her face in the silent room.

As they remained locked in their stalemate, there was suddenly a frantic knock on the door, followed by Qin Nan’s voice: “Sibei, something’s happened. Come out quickly.”

Ye Sibei hurriedly wiped away her tears and stood up, seeing that Qin Nan was already ready to leave. Everyone else in the room looked at her with concern. Qin Nan grabbed her hand and started pulling her out. “Officer Lin just called me. Reporters are at the police station for an interview, and they might be coming here. We need to go home right now.”

As soon as Ye Sibei heard “reporters,” she was stunned. Before she could react, Qin Nan was already dragging her out of the room. He called out to Ye Nianwen as they left: “We’re going. You guys should lock up.”

Qin Nan pulled Ye Sibei along, running out of the courtyard. As they stepped outside, they saw a group of people coming up the alley. Someone with sharp eyes spotted them and shouted, “That’s her!”

The moment the words were out, reporters carrying cameras swarmed towards them, their flashes lighting up the night. Qin Nan quickly threw his coat over Ye Sibei’s head and pulled her away, running.

A group of people chased after them, urgently calling out: “Ms. Ye, we mean no harm. We just want to ask a few questions.”

“Ms. Ye, we heard you’re the victim in the Fuqiang Real Estate sexual assault case. Can you tell us what happened?”

“Ms. Ye…”

The reporters carelessly repeated details of her ordeal, pursuing her and Qin Nan through the narrow alley.

Ye Sibei was running with Qin Nan, and as they climbed the steps to higher ground, she saw another group of reporters rushing towards her home.

“They’re going to my house…”

Ye Sibei spoke nervously, and Qin Nan, holding onto her, sharply commanded, “Don’t look back!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the flashlights flared up. Terrified, Ye Sibei quickly ducked her head and sprinted alongside Qin Nan.

They ran like fugitives through the alley, chased and cornered, holding hands as they fled. The narrow alley was almost deserted at night, with only a few dim streetlights casting a yellow glow on either side.

Ye Sibei could hear her own breathing, feel her heart pounding rapidly. She clung tightly to Qin Nan, her vision blurred.

She wanted to burst into tears, feeling as if the entire world was hunting her down, leaving her with no future and no way out.

She felt like a drowning person, with her only lifeline being the young man in front of her, who was holding onto her and fleeing alongside her in this desperate escape.

Qin Nan led the reporters on a roundabout route, running along the roadside. They dared not drive, fearing the reporters would take down the license plate number, so they continued running along the street.

Fortunately, after running several hundred meters, a small pink car suddenly pulled up in front of them. Lin Feng shouted, “Get in!”

They immediately opened the car doors and jumped inside. Ye Sibei was still catching her breath, her head down, gripping her phone nervously. Qin Nan leaned forward and asked Zhang Yong, who was sitting in the front passenger seat, “Where to now?”

“We’ll drive around for a bit first, then drop you off near your car. We’ll keep an eye on your place, and once the reporters are gone, I’ll give you a call.”

“Alright.”

As Qin Nan and Zhang Yong continued talking, Ye Sibei took a moment to calm down, sniffling, and then called Ye Nianwen.

When he didn’t answer, she tried calling the home phone.

It rang for a long time before Ye Ling picked up, his voice a bit frantic. “Sibei?”

Ye Sibei quickly asked, “Dad, what’s going on over there?”

As she spoke, she could hear the commotion in the background.

Huang Guifen was crying, shouting, “What are you doing? Who are you people?”

Ye Nianwen seemed to be arguing with someone, shouting angrily, “She’s not! She’s not my sister!”

“Don’t worry about it. Nianwen called the police, and he’s trying to get them out with your mom,” Ye Ling said, turning around to shout again, “Stay out!”

Then he turned back to the phone, “They’re mistaking Chuchu for you. She’s hiding in the house and doesn’t dare come out. You take care of yourself. I’m going to help your mom.”

With that, Ye Ling hung up the phone.

Ye Sibei felt completely overwhelmed. She wanted to go back and help, but she knew that returning now would only make things worse.

She sat with her head down, gripping her phone tightly, eyes closed, saying nothing.

After a while, she calmed down a bit, and when she searched her name online, she found that posts about her were already everywhere.

She looked closely for a long time and finally understood that the incident where she was splashed with paint had been posted online. Some kind-hearted individuals shared her experience on the internet.

Words like **sexual assault**, **oppression**, and **struggle** appeared, each keyword intensifying the situation. After rounds of online discussions, a famous influencer questioned the local police, and when the official response confirmed that “the case has been handed over to the prosecutor’s office,” the public uproar exploded.

Sensing a major story, many reporters quickly traveled overnight to Nancheng, eager to be the first to get the scoop.

People wanted to hear a dramatic story, to see if the protagonist was as beautiful as they imagined.

Ye Sibei read through the comments online.

Some supported her, some doubted her, and some were just making crude jokes. She scrolled through them, her hands beginning to tremble.

Noticing this, Qin Nan reached out, took her phone, and said, “Stop looking.”

He pulled her into a comforting embrace, soothing her trembling body. “It’s okay, don’t be afraid. It’s nothing.”

Lin Feng drove them in circles, and following Qin Nan’s directions, arrived at his parked car. The reporters didn’t know about this spot. Qin Nan and Ye Sibei got out, thanked Lin Feng and Zhang Yong, and then got into their own car.

Once inside, Qin Nan looked back to see that Ye Sibei was still trembling slightly, seemingly lost and bewildered.

Qin Nan gazed at her for a moment, then reached out and wrapped his arms around her.

With the car’s console between them, he rested his forehead against hers, sharing his warmth.

“Ye Sibei,” he called her name softly and reassured her, “We’re ready for this.”

Hearing this, Ye Sibei miraculously calmed down.

His words seemed like a spell, becoming the only command in her chaotic world.

“Don’t look at your phone, don’t read the news. Everything they’re doing now is to stop you.”

“Stop me from doing what?”

“They want you to retract your statement, to stop pursuing this, because doing so will hurt them. It will make them pay for what they’ve done.”

“Sibei, you’ve made them afraid.”

Ye Sibei didn’t respond, closing her eyes instead.

She didn’t dare tell Qin Nan that she was afraid he would grow tired of her indecision, her weakness, her confusion.

It wasn’t just them who were afraid.

She was scared too.

But they were all on a path with no way back.

Neither she, nor Zhao Shuhui, nor Fan Jiancheng, nor Qin Nan—none of them could turn back now.